Páginas

15.6.11

Painting with bird

Snow covering the summits, the hills,
the low roof tiles of a solitary house.

On the twining road no one trudges, snow.

And in the bow of a river, bare of leaf a tree
can scarcely hold up its branches.

On one of its twigs a small red smudge.

Róbinson Quintero Ossa
(Original title: "Pintura con Pájaro")

Translation from the original Spanish by Charles Olsen

This poem, which I came across in a special edition of the magazine víacuarenta (números 9/10, 2010) that celebrates the poetry festival of Barranquilla, Colombia, "PoeMaRío", caught my attention as an artist. What is special for me is how the painting at once almost ceases to exist; in few words the landscape takes shape: the poet sketches in volumes, background, foreground, arching lines, emptiness and weight… until the final word that wakes us as if from a dream. A painting in words. A visual poem.